I Asked a Room Full of High Schoolers Why the Internet Is Free.
You Could Hear a Pin Drop.
What that silence revealed about what students urgently need to understand — and why every school in NYC should be having this conversation.
I’ve been in a lot of classrooms. I know how high school energy feels — the side conversations, the phones, the looking around to see if anyone else is paying attention. But when I asked that question, the room changed completely.
Not one hand went up. Not one student even looked like they were reaching for an answer. Just silence.
“Why is the internet free?”
Not one student had an answer.
These are kids who are on the internet every single day. They stream, scroll, post, search, and communicate almost entirely through digital platforms. They couldn’t imagine their lives without it. And not one of them had ever stopped to ask — or been taught to ask — why it doesn’t cost them anything.
That moment told me everything I needed to know about the gap we are dealing with in digital literacy education.
What I Actually Taught Them
I didn’t leave them in the silence. I walked them through exactly what’s happening every time they open an app, click a link, or watch a video.
The Internet Isn’t Free. You’re the Product.
When a platform is free to use, the business model isn’t charity. The platform collects data about everything you do — what you like, what you click, what you watch, how long you watch it, what you buy, what you search for at 2am when no one is watching.
That data gets compiled into a behavioral profile. Companies then pay to reach you — specifically you — based on that profile. Your attention is the product being sold. The advertiser is the customer. You are what’s on the shelf.
Once students understand that, the way they look at every free platform changes. The algorithm isn’t showing them what they want. It’s showing them what keeps them there longest — because the longer they stay, the more data gets collected, the more valuable they become.
I watched it click in real time. You could see it on their faces — that shift from passive acceptance to active awareness. One student said something along the lines of “so they already know everything about me?” And the answer, honestly, is yes. They do. And now this student knew it too.
Why This Lesson Belongs in Every High School
This isn’t a conversation about telling teenagers to get off their phones. That ship has sailed, and frankly, it was never the right message.
This is about making sure students understand the environment they’re living inside. Every day, sophisticated systems are studying their behavior, predicting their reactions, and engineering their experience to keep them engaged as long as possible. That’s not a conspiracy theory — it’s a documented business model worth hundreds of billions of dollars.
“Students don’t need to be told to use their phones less. They need to understand what’s actually happening when they use them.”
When students understand this, something shifts. Their behavior starts to change — not because an adult told them to, but because they made a conscious choice. That’s the difference between compliance and real digital literacy.
Once they understand the system, their behavior starts to change on its own.
What Students Actually Need to Understand
How Algorithms Work
Platforms aren’t neutral. They’re designed to maximize engagement — which isn’t the same as maximizing your wellbeing.
What Data Is Collected
Every click, pause, search, and scroll builds a profile. Students deserve to know what that profile contains and who can access it.
How Attention Is Monetized
Their attention is a commodity. Understanding that changes how they choose to spend it.
How to Make Conscious Choices
Not avoidance — awareness. Students who understand the system can navigate it intentionally instead of being steered by it.
What This Means for School Leaders
If you’re a principal or district administrator reading this, here’s what I want you to take away: your students are spending more time inside digital systems than they are inside your building. Those systems are actively shaping how they think, what they believe, and how they see themselves.
A school policy about phones is a band-aid. Digital literacy education is the treatment. And it doesn’t require new devices, new infrastructure, or a massive budget. It requires educators who can meet students where they are and give them the language to understand their own digital lives.
That’s exactly what this program does.
Watch the lesson live — a real Brooklyn high school classroom, real students, and the moment it all clicked.
▶ Watch the Reel on InstagramBring This Lesson to Your School
The Digital Literacy Curriculum for High Schools covers algorithms, data privacy, AI, and conscious technology use — built specifically for NYC students.
See the Curriculum →Ready to Book a Workshop?
Let’s bring this conversation into your building. Workshops available for high school, middle school, and parent groups across NYC.
Book a Workshop →The internet isn’t free.
The sooner our students know that,
the better equipped they are to use it on their own terms. 🧡